


Earth Angel

by Tarlan



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: mcsheplets, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-07-01
Updated: 2008-07-01
Packaged: 2017-10-21 04:43:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/221049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Words rose up from the smooth surface of the tablet and Rodney could not make them stop.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Earth Angel

**Author's Note:**

> Music quote from _Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)_ sung by Marvin Berry and the Starlighters (from _Back to the Future_ )  
> For **mcsheplets** #22. Written Words.

Rodney coughed as a strong gust of wind came through the doorway from the corridor beyond, raising more than a millennium of fine debris from the device that he'd discovered sitting on the long dead console. Every attempt to power up the console had failed spectacularly because someone had taken a sledgehammer to the crystal array at some time in the distant past. All he could hope was that this tablet might hold the answers to his questions concerning this laboratory, which looked unlike any seen so far.

"If I just connect...Ah hah!" He grinned at John as the laptop provided sufficient power to illuminate the tablet. Words rose up from the smooth surface, hovering in the air like a miniature holographic image. "Huh?"

"What's it say?"

"Um..." He screwed his nose up in distaste. "I think it's poetry. Ancient poetry." He huffed out a breath in partial disgust. "Least now I know why it was left behind." He disconnected the tablet and dropped it with slightly less care than usual back onto the console. "Helgenstein can have that one."

"Hefflestein."

"What?"

John gave him that smirk that both aroused and infuriated Rodney in equal measure.

"Okay, yes, Mr. Smarty Pants, so you've managed to memorize the names of every person on the expedition. Would you like...?"

"Mission."

"What?"

"I know the name of everyone on this mission."

Rodney crossed his arms and raised his chin. "Why?"

"Because _hey you_ doesn't get the right response in a dangerous situation."

Rodney dropped his arms and looked around the ruins nervously. "Dangerous?"

"Well...not at this exact moment, but it could become dangerous if..."

Rodney stuck out a finger. "Don't say it, Sheppard!"

"I'm just saying..."

"Well don't. Just this once I'd like a mission with no Wraith and personal peril."

"I thought you turned that thing off."

Rodney scowled and looked back at the console where more words were floating in the air. He rolled his eyes at the flowery prose that talked of sea blue eyes and soft brown hair. All he needed next was luscious lips and sinful eyelashes--or the Ancient equivalent thereof--and the purple prose would be complete.

He frowned as he played with both the physical and mental components, neither affecting the small machine. "What I don't understand is why it's still active." Rodney narrowed his eyes and stared at John for a moment longer. "It's not you, is it?"

"It's not me what, Rodney?"

He had to admit that the likelihood of John Sheppard mentally spouting lines of poetry that didn't come from some cheesy movie was pretty slim, especially when Rodney was the only other person in the room and, hence, the recipient of such prose.

"Nothing," he hedged but John was swaggering closer, arms resting loosely on the P90 attached to his TAC vest, and head cocked to the perfect angle for kiss... He swallowed hard on that thought because, so not going there. Not if he wanted to keep his friendship with John intact.

Rodney cleared his throat and stepped back, cursing when his hip bumped the console and the tablet fell to the ground with a loud clatter. They both stared at it for a moment as fresh words hovered, written in the air between them in Ancient.

  


Rodney started the translation. "Earth Angel? Earth...Oh my god! It is you!"

He stared at John, seeing the shock reflected back at him from John's wide eyes. New realization followed that he'd spent the past year pining for John with unrequited love that, apparently, wasn't unrequited. They could have been having sex all this time, and he wouldn't have taken Jeannie's words to heart and almost settled for third best with Katie Brown as Sam hadn't wanted him either. He punched John hard on the arm and yelped when John punched him back.

"OW! What did you do that for?" Rodney rubbed his sore arm.

"You hit me first!"

"You deserved it! I nearly married Katie when all the time I could have had..." He waved a hand between them, seeing John's confusion fade and his eyes widen again in a different kind of shock. "Yes, you idiot!"

Their first kiss was in a dilapidated Ancient laboratory on a distant world, and it wouldn't be their last.

END

Translation:  
 _Earth angel, earth angel  
The one I adore  
Love you forever and ever more  
I'm just a fool  
A fool in love with you_


End file.
